(The Hill) — Ola and Bola Osundairo, the brothers hired by Jussie Smollett in 2019 for his alleged scheme, say the disgraced actor is refusing to admit guilt.
Smollett, who is Black and gay, accused his “attackers” of shouting racist and homophobic slurs at him before putting a noose around his neck in Chicago six years ago.
In 2021, the actor was found guilty of five counts of disorderly conduct after it turned out he set up the attack. Testimony at his trial indicated he paid the brothers, whom he knew from the set of the TV show “Empire,” $3,500 to carry out the “attack.”
That pair joined NewsNation’s “Dan Abrams Live” — with Ola Osundairo wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat — to dissect the incident and recent court decision in the case.
“Jussie is a great actor. He is good at what he does, and … people really believe him,” Bola said. “But every time I listen to him, and I hear him, I’m disappointed because he does not — and cannot — say the truth.”
Their remarks came just days after the Illinois Supreme Court reversed the actor’s conviction in the planned attack, ruling that he shouldn’t have been prosecuted a second time since the charges were initially dropped and Smollett had already entered into a deal with the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“My reaction to the court’s ruling was that it made sense,” Ola Osundairo said. “The real injustice here was the sweetheart deal that [Cook County State’s Attorney] Kim Foxx gave him in the first place, which allowed him to go on and profess his innocence.”
Foxx, who recused herself after she communicated with a Smollett relative during the probe, reiterated that she welcomed an independent investigation into the way she and her office handled the case.
The brothers penned a book, “Bigger Than Jussie: The Disturbing Need for a Modern-Day Lynching,” and tell NewsNation they are “very looking forward to putting all of this behind.”
“We think and believe that the truth should be out to help people that have been in positions that we’ve been in, such as making a mistake,” Bola Osundairo said. “The mistake that does not have to define you, you can move forward from making a mistake, and that’s what the book helps us tell.”
NewsNation (NN) local affiliate WGN’s Angelica Sanchez, Marisa Rodriguez, Andy Koval contributed to this report. NN is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.
